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Sony Ericsson has denied that it was close to walking away from its bumper sponsorship deal with the WTA Tour.

The mobile phone manufacturer yesterday (March 8) announced it had signed a two-year extension to its $88m, six-year deal with women’s tennis despite continued speculation that it would pull out to cut costs.

Sony Ericsson posted an 878m Euro loss in 2009 and many thought that dumping the biggest sponsorship deal in women’s sport would be an obvious cost saving.

But corporate vice-president and head of global communications and PR Aldo Liguori, who oversees the WTA deal, insisted that any delay was down to the appointment of new president and chief executive Bert Nordberg, who replaced Hideki (Dick) Komiyama in October last year.

“At about the time we were looking to renew, we were also going through some changes,” Liguori told Sports City. “We announced a new president and CEO in August and he started on October 15.

“We needed to allow him to get his feet under the table before I could go to him to discuss the renewal. I did that early on but he needed time to reflect and try to understand where the company was going.

“Perhaps for that reason it took us a little bit longer to announce than the industry expected. The rest is rumour and speculation.”

The company will no longer be the title sponsor of the Tour and will instead be known as the ‘lead global sponsor’.

But Liguori pointed out that Sony Ericsson’s priorities had changed since the end of 2004, when the original deal was signed.

“We’re more well known than we were back then,” he said. “In those days, our company was barely three years old but it’s our 10th anniversary next year. We felt we could move away from promoting purely the brand and stand on our own two feet a bit more.”

The competition will once again be known simply as the WTA Tour – and Sony Ericsson has been given assurances that no other brand will be brought in above it.

Liguori revealed that the company plans to put online activity – and social networking in particular – at the heart of the sponsorship now the extension has been agreed.

He added: “When we started five years ago, digital and creating communities with consumers was definitely not our objective.

“As Sony Ericsson, we have been moving away from traditional advertising and marketing communications and into the digital space. It’s more about engaging with users with a number of social media tools that can be accessed from the Sony Ericsson website.

“It’s not just about a product announcement now – it’s more about how can we create some interesting content around our phones that will encourage consumers to interact more with us. That’s a big change from 2005 when it tended to be more traditional.”

Liguori insisted that the sponsorship has been worth the big money the brand has shelled out.

“We’ve been able to build a unique position because the Tour had not had a title sponsor for some time when we started in 2005,” he continued. “That gave us differentiation – a unique element of associating with something that didn’t have a name associated with it before.

“The female aspect was also very important. We tended to be known as a techy brand targeted to a male audience before. We wanted to expand our awareness across a much wider and more balanced audience – and that’s still the case today. There’s a great audience who love tennis and it’s not just about sport – it’s about fashion and lifestyle, and that’s very much in-keeping with our brand.”

The company has extended its sponsorship of the Sony Ericsson Open – which is unconnected to the WTA deal – for another year to run until 2011. Its four-year agreement with brand ambassador Maria Sharapova also expires next year – and Liguori added that it is “too early” to comment on whether either will be renewed.